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Coltrane Changes Explained

The document discusses Coltrane changes, which is a technique used in jazz where the key center modulates by intervals of major thirds rather than traditional circle of fifths or whole step modulations. It explains how Coltrane popularized and used this technique extensively, provides examples of Coltrane changes progressions, and discusses how other intervals can also be used for modulation.

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Maurizio Rosa
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369 views3 pages

Coltrane Changes Explained

The document discusses Coltrane changes, which is a technique used in jazz where the key center modulates by intervals of major thirds rather than traditional circle of fifths or whole step modulations. It explains how Coltrane popularized and used this technique extensively, provides examples of Coltrane changes progressions, and discusses how other intervals can also be used for modulation.

Uploaded by

Maurizio Rosa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Coltrane Changes Explained

Modulation
Historically, early Jazz Standards generally modulate (change key/key centre/tonal centre) in
one of three ways:

Circle of Fifths (G Major to C Major)


Whole Step (D Major to C Major)
♭
Chromatic (D Major to C Major)

Coltrane Changes
But why only use these intervals when modulating? Why can’t we use other intervals? Well, this
is the idea behind Coltrane Changes – they change keys by intervals of Major 3rds (E Major to
C Major).
 

Cycle of Fifths D7 GMaj7 G7 CMaj7

Whole Step A7 DMaj7 G7 CMaj7

Chromatic ♭
A 7 D♭Maj7 G7 CMaj7

Coltrane Changes Dm7 - E ♭7 A♭Maj7 - B7 EMaj7 - G7 CMaj7

Note: The keys through which Coltrane Changes modulate create an Augmented Triad: C, A , ♭
E, C.
 
John Coltrane did NOT invent modulation through intervals of Major 3rds. This technique had
been used before (See Section B of Have You Met Miss Jones?). But Coltrane was the first
person to use this technique extensively in Jazz.
 
Reharmonization
Coltrane Changes can be used to reharmonize the following progressions:

II-V-I
III-VI-II-V
I-VI-II-V

II-V-I Dm7 G7 CMaj7 CMaj7

Coltrane #1 Dm7 G7 EMaj7 - G7 CMaj7

Coltrane #2 Dm7 - E ♭7 ♭
A Maj7 - B7 EMaj7 - G7 CMaj7

III-VI-II-V-I Em7 - A7 Dm7 - G7 CMaj7 CMaj7

Coltrane Em7 - E ♭7 ♭
A Maj7 - B7 EMaj7 - G7 CMaj7

I-VI-II-V-I CMaj7 - A7 Dm7 - G7 CMaj7 CMaj7

Coltrane CMaj7 - E ♭7 ♭
A Maj7 - B7 EMaj7 - G7 CMaj7

We already discuss the importance of ‘structure’ in music in a previous lesson (on Cycle


Patterns). Well, Coltrane Changes work well in a reharmonization because the chords move in
a structured way (i.e. in fixed intervals). We will discuss reharmonization (and the importance of
structure in reharmonization) in detail in the next module.
 
And of course, there’s no reason to stick to only modulating in intervals of Major 3rds. You can
change key centres by any (fixed repeating) interval and it will sound good precisely because
the interval is fixed and repeating (again, this is very similar to the idea of Cycled Patterns).

Using Other Intervals
So we can change key using the following intervals:

1 semitone = Half-step
2 semitone = Whole-step
3 semitone = min 3rd (we can call this ‘Minor Coltrane Changes‘ – this creates a
diminished 7th chord)
4 semitone = Maj 3rd (Original Coltrane Changes – creates an augmented chord)
5 semitone = Perfect 4th (Standard Circle Progression)
6 semitone = Tritone (= two min 3rds)
etc…

II-V-I Dm7 G7 CMaj7 CMaj7

Minor Coltrane E7 - AMaj7 D♭7 - G♭Maj7 ♭


B 7-E ♭Maj7 G7 - CMaj7

Tritone Coltrane D ♭7 G♭Maj7 G7 CMaj7

Have a Listen to
The following Coltrane songs all use the Standard (Major 3rd) Coltrane Changes, with the
exception of the last one which modulates by intervals of minor 3rds.

Giant Steps
Countdown
26-2
Satellite
Exotica
Fifth House
Central Park West (Minor Coltrane Changes)

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